Wee Nam Kee

I loooooove Singaporean food!!! One of the main reasons why I love going to Singapore (apart from visiting family) is to eat as much hainanese chicken, chili crab and cereal prawn as I can, with matching fried rice. You can’t really think of dieting when you have these in front of you. Seriously, it is too good to resist. The thing about Singaporean cuisine is that it has a distinct flavor–it is sweet, spicy and savory all the same time. In a lot of ways, it appeals to my Filipino taste. Like most of you, I like certain dishes that are on the sweet and savory side–they go well with rice, which is also a staple in my meals.

So it wasn’t a question of whether or not I should go to Wee Nam Kee to try out their new menu. It was a matter of WHEN. I messaged my best girls to join me for lunch, and just like that we had a feast in front of us. It all happened so fast. We must’ve ordered the entire menu as one dish was served after the other. The plus side was, of course, the food was amazing and we got to try all the dishes. The downside: we three girls had to finish everything (not really, these were happily wrapped and taken home to be eaten at Casa Fernandez for dinner–no cooking, yay!). It really was an unforgettable dining experience, which allowed us to discover brand new creations while enjoying our favorite dishes. It really was a tough job, tasting one dish after the other, but somebody had to do it hahaha. We were so full after, we might have been rolled out of the restaurant after our meal. Here’s what we tried:

Fresh Barley Juice (iced). I never tried barley juice before so this was interesting. It was refreshing though, not too sweet and it had the barley at the bottom which was nice to chew on. It was a bit filling though, but okay, we ordered a lot so I wont put the blame on this.

Crispy Mantou Bread w/ Condensed Milk. Crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, these sweet buns are so addicting. I remember pairing these with spicy crab back in Singapore (my favorite). This time I tried it with condensed milk dip and I was in Crispy Mantou Bread heaven. This is a must-order!

Prawn Paste Chicken Wings. An original Singaporean culinary treat, Wee Nam Kee’s crispy fried chicken wings with prawn paste is a little spicy, but good. I have to admit though, compared to all the other tasty dishes we tried that day this okay (it would be hard to compete with the other savory dishes). Its a good appetizer though!

Salted Egg Chinese Style Fried Chicken. Your favorite crispy fried chicken with a Singapore signature salted egg batter. This was quite interesting–the batter gave the chicken a unique flavor but it wasn’t too salty (not at all like eating salted egg on its own). I recommend this if you’re looking to try a new dish.

Pineapple Fried Rice w/ Pork Floss. This offers a sweet twist to your fried rice. Made with fried rice with mixed vegetables, roast pork, and sweet pineapples topped with sweet & spicy pork floss, this is a different take on a favorite. Don’t worry, its not as sweet as it sounds, it still tastes very much like fried rice (meaning: it wont overpower your other “ulam“, which is important).

Hainanese Chicken Curry Noodles. This is Wee Nam Kee’s version of the beloved Singaporean specialty: Laksa. What makes it different is the r Hainanese chicken on top and the noodles with curry sauce in chicken soup. This was bursting with flavor! Its a hybrid dish that offers a lot of flavor. This is definitely something new to try!

Wok Fried Chicken w/ Cashews & Sun Dried Chili. This is one of my favorites!!! It is made of chicken strips, cashews and sun dried chili–this definitely has the signature Singaporean spiciness and savory taste. This is soooooo good with fried rice!

Cashew Coffee Spareribs. This is it! The winner!!! My favorite dish out of ALL THE DISHES we tried. These spareribs are amazing! They are seasoned with salt and pepper and imported Singapore kopi ground spice rub topped with cashew nuts. Its sweet and tastes like coffee but in the best possible way. Try this!!!!

Butterflied Tilapia w/ Chili Crab Sauce. Deep fried filleted tilapia swimming in chili crab sauce. So good! Its crispiness is so bagay with the spicy-sweet sauce. This is great when you want chili crab but don’t want the mess. I know, tilapia is not chili crab but it’s an alternative. Personally though, crab wins over fish for me every time!!!

Stewed Pork Belly w/ Steamed Buns. This is their version of cuapao, only you make it yourself. This was so savory and delicious but also very fatty (of course, its pork belly). If you’re watching your diet, you can remove the fatty parts. But if not, indulge haha. I know I did!

Prawns w/ Lychee and Peaches. A seafood version of the classic sweet and sour dish, only its made with lychee and peaches. This was a little sweet for my taste, but if you like these sort of dishes, go go go ahead and try this. I think the shelled prawns made it extra sweet, of course, I’m comparing it to the pork sweet and sour dish.

Cereal Prawns. C’mon, how can we NOT order this dish?!! This is one of my favorites and I always ALWAYS order this when dining at a Singaporean restaurant. I mean, prawns deep fried with Nestum–this is SO GOOD!

Sambal Kangkong. After all the ordering we did, Meryll realized we didn’t order any veggies. So we ordered this dish to “balance” things out haha. It was good though. It was also on the sweet-tasty side.

Hainanese Chicken (steamed). Another crowd favorite. We were hesitant to order this since we had so many other dishes to try, but then again, how can you not have this dish? Wee Nam Kee has one of the best Hainanese Chicken dishes in the Philippines, so yes, you must try this if you haven’t already!

Chocolate Truffle Buchi. As they say, there’s always room for dessert and so we ordered this plate! It was hands down one of the best buchis I’ve ever tried because it was so decadent. Inside each buchi was melted white chocolate, milk chocolate and dark chocolate. Amazing!

Established in 1989 in Singapore, Wee Nam Kee has been serving Hainanese chicken rice for the past 25 years. Universally recognized as the gold standard of Singapore’s Hainanese Chicken Rice, Wee Nam Kee now has eight branches in the Philippines: Ayala Triangle Gardens, Serendra, Glorietta 2, Alabang Town Center, Promenade Greenhills, Trinoma Mall, Shangrila East Wing, and the new Fairview Terraces Mall. Wee Nam Kee continues to expand both domestically and internationally with more locations planned for Singapore, the Philippines, and beyond.